What began as a simple journey has turned into so much more...

Elizabeth-Ginger

Additional items:
- Shimmering Light: a super-sparkly set of arm bands
- Floating Lantern: a magically floating light source that you can also use as a small shelter

One of the noble socialites in Waterdeep is a woman named Lady Artania, who looks like a younger Elven woman in her prime, but whom you know is actually a rare type of dragon with psychic and transformative powers. She is very old (several hundred years or more), and appears as an elf just because it’s easier than trying to interact with folks in her dragon form. Lady Artania is one of the good folks, and you get the sense that she had more than her share of time as an adventurer. She has a large estate in Waterdeep, but also owns several homes in nations across the Alliance. She seems to be interested in using her fortunes to do good in the world. In Waterdeep, for instance, her mansion employs a wide variety of folks who’ve fallen on hard times (injured soldiers, prostitutes, orphans, etc) as servants, so she can give them useful life skills (and good references) as they improve their station in life. She also runs a winery with a secret… there’s actually a portal to the feywild in her home, and she has an orchard in the Feywild that grows some very rare fairy grapes for her expensive wines. In this way she is able to maintain her fortunes while still giving away lots to the folks she helps.

I’d like for your character to somehow be involved with Lady Artania, so that when a message comes to her from a distant Druid, she can ask you to deliver it to the party (who were in Waterdeep a couple weeks ago). The message will basically ask the party to hurry as quickly as possible back to Ionia, where this druid is having a problem that needs the party’s help. If you’d like to have some connection to Ionia, that’s fine, too.

Okay, finally, here is some background on Ginger Bluewing of the Undertiles, pixie wizard and messenger extraordinaire (her words, not mine!).

First, a little bio. Born in Waterdeep to parents whom she never knew, as they died soon afterward, she was raised by her tough and wizened old granny, who lived on a rooftop next to a chimney in Portobello Road. She grew up to be just as tough, since her granny sent her out on missions to buy a few pinches of herbs and spices for her “concoctions”. Her granny, Betsina, made the best mead ever, mainly because she had the “bee connection” as she called it. A queen bee on the outskirts of the city owed Betsina a debt of gratitude, so Betsina had all the honey she could ever use, delivered weekly by heavy-lidded drones.

So Ginger grew up tough, as I said, but perky with it, and no doubt she would have stayed helping her granny forever, but for a horrible accident that happened one day. The chimney on the rooftop that provided the one solid wall of Granny Betsina’s hut was very old and the mortar was mostly gone. A large cart rumbled by in the street below and suddenly the chimney collapsed, smashing Granny’s hut and all her mead-making paraphernalia. Granny was unhurt, having been down the other end in the moss garden where she grew a few flowers and roots for their suppers. Ginger knew they needed a place to stay so she called on her own connections, made on the streets and in the air of Waterdeep and found her and Granny a place to live in a nice cozy attic. They were taken in by a large and boisterous pixie family called the Undertiles, who after Granny dwindled and died, adopted Ginger as their own.

While all of this has been happening, Ginger’s adventures on the streets and in the wards of Waterdeep have been getting more and more interesting. The temptation to be a rogue and a thief has been strong, but her granny gave her a good conscience, having brought her up “by hand” (though nicer than Pip’s sister in Great Expectations!). So she has turned that temptation into a strength by using her small size to follow thieves and then rat them out to the nearest constable or ward officer.

She gets her wizarding skills when one day she catches whom she thinks is a thief trying to break open a lock. It turns out to be the owner of the building, a rather grumpy but kind-hearted wizard named [perhaps Vangerdahast would be her teacher, would that work?] She, having realized her mistake, then makes a complete nuisance of herself, because of all the shiny fascinating things in his workshop. She can’t stay away, but constantly pesters him with questions, until finally he asks if he teaches her some spells and things, will she shut up? She agrees and that is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Her love of fascinating things can get her into trouble as well. She has more than once almost been imprisoned for deliberately letting herself get shut up inside jewelers and goldsmith shops and curio shops, so that she can play the night away with all the beautiful and fascinating things. She’s also a big fan of toy shops. Automatons both scare and fascinate her, especially the really large ones. She actually imitated one once in order not to get thrown out of a shop at closing time.

This may be how she came to Lady Artania’s attention. She had fallen asleep inside a beautiful jeweled egg that was a present to the Lady from some admirer or other, and when the gift was delivered, there she was, bright blue wings folded neatly and her short red hair mussed. Hopefully the Lady would have been charmed and amused, and upon interrogating Ginger would have decided that the little wizard could be of some use to her, both through her size and her growing magic talents. So Ginger says good bye to the old wizard and hello to a life of intrigue and lots of flying messages about!

She doesn’t have too many long-term goals, she never did. She seems to fall into each of her life experiences as they come along, never looking for them, but cheerfully accepting the nicer ones as they do.

She had some religious tutelage from her Granny, who was also a Sehanine worshipper, and who often told Ginger of the dreams that Sehanine would send her.

And as Ginger grew up, Sehanine began speaking to her in dreams as well, not of the dead but of journeys, of flitting gaily through the moonlit nights from town to city to mountain to village and beyond. So when the Lady Artania begins sending Ginger on missions, she feels that this is only what Sehanine had always been preparing her for, so she feels this is the best way she can show the goddess her devotion. She also just likes the moonlit gaiety that she feels is a part of the goddess’ aura.

Her main prejudices are against being ignored by anyone she’s trying to talk to, and she hates “little people” jokes. She is the definition of “little and fierce” when she gets riled up. She also, because of her Sehanine worship, seriously hates the undead. So she’s not a great lover of vampires, good or bad, for instance. Also, because of the tragedy that robbed her and Granny Betsina of their rooftop chimney hut, she has a great distaste for badly constructed and/or maintained structures, of any size. Also not a fan of large rumbly carts, or indeed anything large that blunders about blindly or stupidly.

Ginger is for the most part a good girl, brought up properly by her granny, but her street experience gives her a bit more of a slightly roguish quality. She’s been known to steal a blueberry off a fruit cart, or a tiny piece of gold leaf to put in her hair. But she’ll usually do a good turn for the fruiterer or the goldsmith in return, to salve her conscience.

So there you have it. I hope it makes sense. If there are others of the NPC’s that you think would be good to throw into the backstory, do let me know.